La Mama Experimental Theatre Club

United States

Founded by legendary theater artist (and 2000 John D. Rockefeller 3rd Awardee) Ellen Stewart in 1961, La MaMa is the birthplace of the off-off-Broadway theater movement in the U.S. From its start in a tiny basement on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, La MaMa has grown to include two theaters, a cabaret space, a gallery, an extensive archive, and an annual summer program in Italy. Dedicated from its inception to presenting new plays and companies from around the world, La MaMa is a world-renowned cultural institution recognized as an incubator of new work and international collaboration. One of La MaMa’s most important and enduring partners in the creation and presentation of international projects is the Seoul Institute of the Arts (SIA), the leading training ground for artists of all disciplines in Korea. Under the leadership of SIA’s visionary president, ACC grantee Duk Hyung Yoo (1966 – 68, 1974, 1983, 1996, 2000), the SIA opened a new campus in 2008 that includes an advanced new media center that allows students to work with the most innovative forms of arts technology. In 2009, La MaMa and SIA jointly founded Culturehub, a new media program to advance cross-cultural, artistic cooperation. Currently, Culturehub consists of two Telepresence Studios—one in New York and one in Seoul—linking the two organizations through the use of digital technology and virtual space,and broadening the ability for artists and audiences to interact with one another in real time across long distances.

Grants Awarded

2011
|
Theater
|
Korea

to support a theater exchange program between La MaMa E.T.C. in New York and the Seoul Institute of the Arts in Korea in 2012

2007
|
Theater
|
Philippines

to enable a theater company from the Philippines, directed by Cecile Guidote Alvarez, to present a music theater piece based on the work of Filipino writer Alejandro Roces at La MaMa

2006
|
Theater
|
Taiwan

to enable the Great Jones Repertory Company to present its acclaimed production, Dionysus: Filius Dei, in the Taipei Arts Festival in fall 2006

2005
|
Theater
|
Japan

to enable puppeteer Jun Tanaka to participate in the La MaMa Umbria International Symposium for Directors in Spoleto, Italy, in summer 2005

2004
|
Theater
|
India

to support the participation of the Ishara Puppet Theatre from New Delhi, India, in the La MaMa Puppet Festival in September 2004

2003
|
Theater
|
India

to support the participation of percussionist Yoshi Shimada from Japan in a La MaMa production at the Ishara International Puppet Festival in New Delhi, India, in January 2004

2002
|
Theater
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Cambodia

to enable puppetry artist Theodora Skipitares and actor/musician Perry Yung, in association with La MaMa's founding director Ellen Stewart, to collaborate with artists at the Royal University of Fine Arts in Cambodia in the development of a contemporary performance piece.

2002
|
Theater
|
India

to enable performing artists from India to serve as artists-in-residence and to participate in workshops and public programs at La MaMa in March and April 2002

1999
|
Theater
|
India

to enable La MaMa's founder and director Ellen Stewart to undertake research and creative work on rod puppets in India, under the auspices of the Gandhi Centre of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in Bangalore in fall 1999

1998
|
Theater
|
Taiwan

to support the presentation of the Great Jones Repertory Company production of Trojan Women in the first Taipei Arts Festival in Taiwan in June 1998

1996
|
Theater
|
Vietnam

to enable director and producer Ellen Stewart and theater artist and designer Theodora Skipitares to collaborate with artists and directors at the Vietnam National Theater and at the Central Water Puppet Theater of Hanoi in developing contemporary theater workshops and creating a new performance piece.

1993
|
Dance
|
Asia General

to support the participation of dance artists from Asia in the first Asian Contemporary Dance Festival, held at La Mama in June 1993.

1993
|
Theater
|
Hong Kong

to enable Hong Kong theater director Frederick Mao to participate in the development of a new theater piece at La MaMa, E.T.C., in June 1994.

1991
|
Theater
|
China

to enable artistic director Ellen Stewart to participate in a meeting of the international Theatre Institute's Cultural Identity and Development Committee held in Beijing in December 1991

1983
|
Theater
|
Asia General

to provide general support for international theater activities involving artists and performing arts specialists from Asia.

1981
|
Theater
|
Korea

to enable Ellen Stewart, executive director of La Mama, to attend the 5th Third World Theatre Festival and Colloquy held in Seoul in March 1981.

1980
|
Theater
|
Asia General

to provide support for the Asian Theater Workshop conducted at La Mama in October and November 1980.

1979
|
Theater
|
India

to enable arts specialists I Wayan Diya, Indonesia; Rashid Haider, Bangladesh; Sudheendra Sharma, India, to participate in the Childyear Culture Corps Project organized in conjunction with the International Year of the Child and held at La Mama, the United National International School, and Brooklyn College from Spetember 1978 to May 1979.

1979
|
Theater
|
Japan

to provide assistance for the New York production of "Mningyo Shimai," produced and directed by Setsu Asakura and performed at La Mama in October 1978 by the Ritudosha Theater Company, Tokyo, Japan

1978
|
Theater
|
Asia General

to provide for the preliminary organizational expenses of the Asian component of the Childyear Culture Corps Project organized in conjunction with the International Year of the Child and held at La Mama, the United National International School, and Brooklyn College from September 1978 to may 1979.

1977
|
Theater
|
Korea

to provide support to enable the Dong Nang Reperatory Company for the Korean Drama Center, Seoul, to participate in the World Theatre month Celebration held at La Mama in March and April 1977.

Events

THE AЯTS is a bold new work of interdisciplinary theatre that deconstructs the history of public funding for the arts in the United States. At once documentary and interactive, this production uses choreography, live cameras, music, and text to contrast the precarious realities of arts funding today with the 1960s Congress hearings that created the National Endowment of the Arts.

Creative China Festival is committed to becoming a platform to nurture innovative creators and foster in-depth collaborations between China and the US in the fields of contemporary arts and culture. CCF shares the influential and dynamic works of Chinese contemporary arts and culture through 80 events in 8 cities during 200 days, including discussions, films, dances, theater, music, design, art, youth program, artist talks, workshops, fellowships, family programs, publication grants, US arts delegations to China, and arts study tours.